Illegal Pakistani Migrant Boy Acquitted

A teenage Pakistani boy who accidentally reached India on board an express train on January 11 has been released by a court in the state of Punjab.

Thirteen-year-old Atiq Ahmad was detained by Indian immigration officials on January 13 for crossing the border without legal documents.

[Atiq Ahmad, Slipped Into India]:
"The night I left my home I felt someone was stalking me. I ran and sat in a train and came here. Here they caught me and put me in Hoshiarpur jail on January 13."

The chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was present during Atiq's court hearing and is happy that all the cases against him have been withdrawn.

[Asma Jehangir, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan]:
"He has been released because he is a juvenile. But the paperwork still has to be completed. He cannot go back to his country until all official documents are complete.”

Atiq ran away from his home in Pakistan's Punjab Province after his father stopped him from flying kites.

In Lahore, Atiq took shelter and fell asleep in a railway coach. Next morning, the coach was attached to a train heading over the border into India.